Welcome to another edition of eChook.
The Poultry CRC lodged its re-bid application this month for a second round of funding to take the CRC through to 2017. The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will announce on April 24 which applications will progress to the interview stage in Canberra between June 30 and July 1. Successful CRCs will be announced by the end of July and will need to commence operation within six months of the announcement.
I’d like to thank the many people who have already put an enormous amount of effort into the Poultry CRC’s rebid, including my team in Armidale, the Interim Program Managers (including the late John Barnett) and their key researchers, and Poultry CRC Mk II Participants.
Addressing the selection criteria was far more challenging than previous rounds, with strict word and page limits. The newly introduced Economic Impact Projection (linked from input to impact through a highly rigid spreadsheet format) had my staff working long hours to ensure we met the March 20 deadline.
We’ll continue preparing for the anticipated June interview, lining up an interview team and fleshing out selected research proposals for the panel to assess.
The Poultry CRC will be joining other CRCs in Canberra in May at Pathfinders: The Innovator’s Conference, held concurrently with the Australian Science Festival. The Poultry CRC is in the running for two awards at the gala dinner, to be presented by Senator Kim Carr, the Minister in charge of the CRC Program. Kevin Rudd and former PM Bob Hawke will also be there to witness what could be a big night for the Poultry CRC.
Regards,
Mingan
